John S. O'Connor

John S. O'Connor's poems have appeared in places such as Poetry East and RHINO. He has written two books on teaching: This Time It's Personal: Teaching Academic Writing through Creative Nonfiction (2011) and Wordplaygrounds: Reading, Writing, and Performing Poetry in the English Classroom (2004). He earned his BA and MAT from the University of Chicago and his PhD from the University of Illinois at Chicago. He has taught for 25 years in a wide variety of settings, including the University of Chicago Laboratory Schools, Pennsylvania State University, urban public and parochial schools, an adult literacy center, and a maximum security prison. In 2007, he was named a Golden Apple Teacher of Distinction. O'Connor currently teaches at New Trier High School in Winnetka, Illinois.